Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎165r] (329/678)

Geo.—Sykes—Second Revise. 7
forms part of the district of Rudan, in Fars. We followed up the
diminished river to Jagin, the Duzdi river being in reality the main
branch, and a third march brought us to Manujan, which is situated
near the source of the Minab river, although there is a good deal of
drainage from the Mulla Kuh to the west.
Manujan has a fine fort now deserted, and should be a very rich
district, the camel-grazing being most luxuriant; but, partly at auy
rate, from the ignorance of the ruling family, a famine has arisen, and
deaths from want were of daily occurrence. The information that I
received tended to show that the governor-general was coming in my
direction, but when, two stages further east, the Governor of Rudbar
came to see me, it appeared that his Excellency had gone on to Fahraj.
Curran Khan told me that his ancestors were Arabs of the same tribe
as the Kain family* and that three centuries ago they migrated to
Rudbar with their slaves, whose descendants still occupy the district.
I was now on the western edge of the only large blank left on
the map of Persia, although I afterwards found that Khan Bahadur
Tusut Sharif, the eminent Indian surveyor, had preceded me, and as
the governor-general had received instructions to march down towards
the coast, my only chance of meeting his Excellency lay in cutting
him off, so I decided to traverse the plain of Bashakird. During my
second journey in Persia, I had marched to the north of the great
liamun ’ known as the Jaz Morian, in which the Bampur and Halil
rivers commingle their waters, and had fixed many of the peaks of
Bashakird, while the present journey led in an opposite but almost
parallel direction, keeping to the open plain as far as Ramishk, a
distance of 118 miles from Manujan. I was unfortunate in suffering
from a severe attack of fever, probably a souvenir of Bandar Abbas,
and had it not been for my Persian secretary, Nasrulla Khan, and
my plane-tabler, much would have been lost from a geographical point
oi view. Ihe whole plain, which is very extensive, was covered with
the most luxuriant camel-grazing, and in places there were flocks,
but the country was so unsettled that we hardly saw a man through
out. Indeed, Bashakird, the most backward and savage district of
Persia, has never been fully controlled by that power, but during the
last few years a miserable revenue of £160 per annum has been
nominally paid, Durran Khan, who holds the title of governor, practi
cally making a raid into the country and seizing what he can. It
is divided into four districts, each of which is assessed for a quarter
of the revenue, and they are thus presumably equal in population _
Starting from the west, Sindark is the nearest division to Minab.
Eastwards lies Jakdan and then Anguhran, while Marz occupies the
whole of the north, and it is from this division that raiders attack
the caravans. Four or five days before my arrival, seven camel-loads of
sugar had been seized and an Afghan shot one stage to the east of
Manujan, blood still staining the spot when we passed. Unfortunately
for the raiders, one load of sugar was the property of a British subject,
and six months later I asked the governor-general for compensation.
In reply, he said that he did not know whom to mulct, so I was able to
tell him that the Kalantur of Ramishk had sold sugar to my party far
cheaper than it could be bought at Bandar Abbas !
To resume the thread of my narrative, after nine marches, all of
which, except the last, lay across the most level of plains, with foul
well water to drink, we reached Ramishk, the exact situation of which
had puzzh d me for many years. It lies at the junction of two branches
o! a small river on the outer range of the Bqshakird mountains, and
consists of perhaps a hundred huts and half a dozen small shojis,
Ramishk being the capital of eastern Bashakird. The Kalantar was
not friendly, and as it was rumoured that our troops and those of
Persia at Karwan had been driven into the sea, our position was
somewhat delicate, until the welcome news came that four hundred
camelry were on the way from Fahraj, which proved to me that the
governor-general had received my letter, enclosing instructions from
the Prime Minister of Persia, and had acted without delay. The
very heavy rain that had kept us drenched for a week ceased at the
l.e. of the Khuzai.